Transcript – ABC News Breakfast
01 April 2025
E&OE
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Time now to talk to the Shadow Health Minister, Anne Ruston, who joins us from Sydney. Good morning to you.
ANNE RUSTON: Good morning, Bridget.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Well look, health is such a key issue for so many Australians. We know people are struggling sometimes to get to the doctor, to get a bulk billing visit, if they can even get an appointment. What would the commitment be from the Coalition in terms of lifting that rate of bulk billing that we see nationally across Australia?
ANNE RUSTON: Well, we've already made a significant commitment of $9.4 billion of an investment into primary care because, as you rightly say, it's never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor and I'm sure your listeners would have had exactly the same experience. It's really hard to get into your GP and when you get there, when you go to pay the bill, you're actually forking more out of your pocket than you ever have before. So, a $9.4 billion investment into primary care to try and increase the number of appointments that are bulk billed, but also to reduce pressure on everyday Australians of the amount that they pay out of pocket if they aren't able to get bulk billed. So I think that's a pretty significant investment. But we want to do more, and one of the big issues that we want look at is around mental health and making sure that we've got a world leading response to mental health because that seems to be something that is really concerning Australian parents particularly.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Yeah, especially post pandemic. So what would that look like? You've said you want additional subsidised sessions for those struggling with their mental health from 10 to 20. Is that a good investment? Because the government says on average people usually take about four or five subsidised sessions. Does it need to go to 20?
ANNE RUSTON: Well, I think what we need to do is we need to respond to mental health in a way that actually understands mental health. There are some people who may only need four or five sessions, and that's great, but there are others that sometimes need a lot, lot more. And so, in any other health condition, that you had gone to your prescribing physician and they'd said you needed X amount of treatment - So I mean, if you were told that you needed so many oncology treatments because you had cancer - You wouldn't cut those in half. So what we're saying is that if people need the extra treatments, they shouldn't be restricted from getting them. But we also want to make sure that we are looking at a world-leading response to this, because there are so many places that people can actually enter the mental health system. We want to come up with a no wrong door approach, particularly for young Australians, because we know so many young Australians are struggling with mental health.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: But Labor says Peter Dutton didn't properly support Medicare as Health Minister. Certainly he made some changes to make the system, as he said, more sustainable. Do you now have some work to do to turn around a perception in the community that Peter Dutton didn't properly support Medicare as Health Minister?
ANNE RUSTON: Well I think our record in government showed that we supported the health system across the board, and on just about every metric we increased funding including into Medicare. I mean, Peter Dutton presided over much, much higher bulk billing rates than the current government is presiding over, and we saw the bulk billing rates increasing when Peter Dutton was the Health Minister. But I think the thing that's probably most disappointing at the moment is that we're seeing a government resorting to scare campaigns and lies to try and hide from the fact that right now all the metrics, all the measures in health, are going backwards, whether it be bulk billing plummeting, whether it be out of pocket costs skyrocketing, the number of bulk billed appointments dropping. 1.5 million Australians last year said they didn't go to see their GP because they simply couldn't afford it. I mean health has become another victim of the cost of living crisis and no amount of scare campaigns and lies actually can hide from that.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: I think the Government actually says the official data shows that the number of Australians visiting their GP has actually increased in the last 12 months though.
ANNE RUSTON: Well, I would actually contest that that isn't correct. I mean, if you look at the data, that is not correct. But this is a government that doesn't seem to worry about telling the truth. They will say absolutely anything, whether it be true or not, in order to create a scare campaign. And I quite frankly think Australians deserve better than that. Health is so important. We should not be scaring Australians about our health care system, based on lies. The facts are the facts and they speak for themselves. I want to make sure Australians can continue to have confidence in their health system. I want have a conversation with them that says that we absolutely prioritise health and we will continue to do so. And so while Labor is out there running lies and scare campaigns, we're actually focused on making sure that Australians have got the health care system that they absolutely deserve.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: So what would bulk billing look like under a Coalition Government? Would you commit to lifting that rate to 90%? Is that achievable?
ANNE RUSTON: Look it's absolutely achievable with the right levers and the right investments, because when we left government the bulk billing rate was over 88 percent so it's completely achievable. But to do so you actually have to be focused on investing in the right places and we have to make sure that we make primary care a real focus. Prevention, early intervention and primary care must be the targeted focus of this government, of any government in Australia, to make sure that Australians are getting access to primary care. Because if they don't get access to primary care, they're sicker by the time they enter the health system and they end up on ramps at hospitals. They end up in our ED departments or they end up in hospitals, which isn't good for the patient and it's a much more expensive way of dealing with health. We have to get back to the basics of primary care.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Labor is committing $150 million today to a big health care centre at Flinders University. Would you match that commitment, Anne Ruston?
ANNE RUSTON: Look, the project that's been put forward by Flinders University is a great project and we were always prepared to support it, so we will absolutely commit to supporting the $150 million of the $300 million to build this health hub precinct. It's a great project. I've certainly been well briefed by Flinders University. Really love the fact that they're focusing on workforce, because one of the greatest challenges that we have seen over the last three years is just a lack of workforce. No amount of great initiatives are going to be able to be delivered if you don't have the workforce to do it. So it's a great project and we're very happy to support it.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: I'm sure they'll be pleased by that bipartisan commitment. Anne Ruston, thanks for your time today.
ANNE RUSTON: My pleasure. Thanks, Bridget.
ENDS
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